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UK: A new age of drug tests?
Nottingham Evening Post
Wednesday 18 Dec 2002 Nottingham MP Graham Allen wants offenders as young as ten to be tested for hard drugs. He believes early intervention is the key to reducing offending among young people and preventing them from being sucked into a life of crime. Crime Correspondent Steven Shukor reports A ten-year-old is arrested for robbery and brought to the Bridewell police custody suite in Nottingham. He is quizzed by officers about the offence in the presence of his parents or an appropriate adult. A swab of saliva is then taken from his mouth and analysed for the presence of hard drugs. The test is already compulsory in Notts for adults arrested for 'trigger' offences, such as robbery, burglary and car crime. Graham Allen and Notts police chiefs believe drug testing should now become routine for young offenders. The Nottingham North MP has proposed an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which would see children as young as ten tested. He is pressing the Government to go further than the current proposal of lowering the age from 18 to 14. Notts police have been running a pilot scheme to identify the link between hard-drug abuse and offences such as robbery, burglary and drug-related crime. Since September last year, 2,618 adult offenders have been tested and nearly 60% tested positive for cocaine and/or heroin. Mr Allen believes the levels of hard drug use may be similar among the under-18s. Extending the testing to young offenders will enable the police and the wider criminal justice system to gauge to what extent drug abuse is fuelling their criminality. Those who are identified as having a drug problem can then receive treatment, which in the long term may prove more successful than a custodial sentence at reducing offending. Mr Allen said: "If a child is taking drugs at age ten then effective, early intervention can save the taxpayers money, reduce crime and deliver children and families from the misery of drug abuse. "There are young people in my constituency who, by the age 14, are "old hands" at drugs, and well known to local police. "Drug testing of arrested children should begin at ten. After all, ten is the age of criminal responsibility." Mr Allen has put his arguments to a Home Office minister at a cross-party standing committee, which is scrutinising the clauses of the Criminal Justice Bill. If it wins support, Mr Allen's proposal could be included in the Bill, due to become law by June. As not all young offenders are charged, the new legislation would need to allow tests on those who may only be cautioned. The proposal has attracted criticism from child welfare organisation the Children's Society. Kathy Evans, its policy manager, said: "There is no evidence that tests will tackle the root causes of youth crime. We believe they are unnecessary, as research shows that only one per cent of children aged 15 or under take drugs. It is very rare." There is no conclusive research on the extent of drug use among young offenders. But a study in 1996 of 80 young male offenders found that almost 20% had used either heroin or crack cocaine. Notts' Assistant Chief Constable Howard Roberts said: "Before we did drug testing on adults, people would have been surprised if it was suggested that nearly 60% of offenders were on crack cocaine or heroin. "At the moment we can only test offenders 18 and over. We are missing a huge opportunity to identify an early link between young people and drugs in order to do something about it. "I think Mr Allen's proposal is a sensible proposition. It will mean health services can intervene sooner and hopefully bring drug misuse to a conclusion for the benefit of that person and the community, which can suffer drug-related crime. "Until we test, we won't really know the extent of the problem." Nottingham's youth offending team carried out a survey of 143 eight- to 16-year-olds at risk of offending and found that 18% had "substance misuse problems", mainly alcohol and cannabis. Nick Orders, a team manager, said: "A significant number of young offenders abuse drugs." Team staff receive training to identify substance misuse among clients to help improve treatment. Alistair Lang, chief executive of DARE, supports the age limit being reduce to ten. "We know, sadly, that the people using drugs are getting younger," he said.
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